TOTENBERG: It's Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He's 63 years old. He was a runner-up to - he's been a runner-up in past nominations - the Sotomayor nomination his name was prominent and again in the Kagan nomination. He's - to be blunt about it- the only white male on the finalist list. He is a beloved figure on the court of appeals by Republicans and Democrats alike. And I'm told that the Republicans in the Senate actually sent some sort of a back-channel message to the White House that if it were Garland that they would confirm him if the Democrats prevail in the presidential election, that they would confirm him in the lame-duck session and that the whole caucus would be on board, that it wouldn't be a fight. Now, you know, this is all - I have good sources for this, but, you know, from somebody's lips to God's ears so to speak, who knows?
MONTAGNE: Yeah, well, before - I'd like to hear a little bit more about Merrick Garland. But let me just briefly ask you what's the reasoning in that? The lame-duck session basically says to the Republicans if it is a Democratic president's been elected, you'd rather have this than the next thing?
TOTENBERG: That he's a moderate liberal, he has a law-enforcement background. He has a lot of friends in the Republican community as well as the Democratic community, among the Republicans on his court. He is the chief judge. And chief judges are not always beloved, but he is really beloved. And so I think that their thought would be better him - and he's 63 years old and how long will he serve? His father, by the way, is 90. (Laughter) How long will he serve? That's better than whoever Hillary Clinton - assuming it's Hillary Clinton - would name or Bernie Sanders more so.
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/16/470673665/obama-picks-merrick-garland-for-supreme-court-seat
so hard at this.
